BRITS apprehensive of Autonomous Cars

Almost half of the people of Britain are against the introduction of autonomous technology on the roads because they fear that the unmanned cars would get into a crash easily and that the computer-driven technology could be hacked, posing a threat to their private data.

People are skeptical to accept autonomous technology

Out of the surveyed sample, three-fourths of the Brits were scared of some sort of glitch and the same number of them didn’t trust the lives of other drivers in the hands of a computer. 44% of them were sternly against permitting unmanned vehicles on highways. Almost half were concerned with the safety level these cars would offer and feared hacking of the vehicles that would jeopardize their data stored on the device. And over 53% were convinced that the self-driving cars were more prone to accidents.

Nevertheless, the further study provided data that inspire of many people fearing this new-age technology, the number of people who saw the positives that it brought was also encouraging. Many drivers saw the fact that they could take their eyes off the road for at least some time, safely, as a window to catch up on activities like making a phone call, checking their smartphones, etc. One-third said that they would use the free time to relax and capture photographs of the scenery outside the vehicle and also catch up on their social networking sites. Two in five said that they would get on the phone with a friend or colleagues. A few drivers said that they will make use of the opportunity to strike a conversation with fellow passengers.

Another major concern that autonomous cars bring with them is the changes in their insurance policies. Two out of five people opined that their insurance premiums would take a hike, even though the technology completely puts human error out of the window. Simon McCulloch, Director of Insurance at comparethemarket.com said: “The future of driverless cars is closer than we think and with a nation divided on the benefits they could bring, it’s vital any concerns the public might have are addressed before plans for driverless vehicles go into auto-pilot.

“A major point of concern and confusion for motorists is how the arrival of self-driving cars will affect their insurance policies, which is why we created our newly designed driverless car quote journey. “By seeing how a future policy might work, we hope we can help the debate on what the future could hold for personal transportation and how this could impact insurance policies. A few insurance companies have now come up with a concept called as “ quite journey ”. In this journey which is basically a ride in the autonomous vehicle with the insurance seeker when buying car insurance after autonomous technology becomes a reality. The journey is intended to prepare the customers for what driverless vehicles will offer in the future and also ready them for when they will be allowed on the UK roads. Professor Stanton, who is Chair of Human Factors Engineering at the University of Southampton, says: “It naturally takes a while to adjust to new technologies and advancements that may be a little out of our comfort zone. “Technologies such as contactless cards, online shopping, and even the introduction of apps has not always been met with positivity so it will be interesting to see how opinions evolve once driverless cars are out on UK roads.”